State Toughens Prison Policy On Furloughs

Prison Furlough Policy Toughened

Stung by failures in the prison furlough system, state Correction Commissioner Larry R. Meachum made it tougher Tuesday for prisoners to take a few days off.

From now on, convicts entering prison will have to serve at least 40 percent of their sentences before being eligible for a furlough, and even then, they won't be going anywhere if they haven't behaved.

"There have been a number of furlough failures in the past and those have been on the increase, both in terms of inmates' not returning and in terms of committing offenses while out. It's time to tighten up the rules," said Bill Flower, a Department of Correction spokesman.

One change will be letting only those inmates with a security classification of Level II or I take furloughs, which generally last a few days. Before, Level III inmates were eligible for furlough.

Meachum said he will review the cases of any Level III inmates who have performed satisfactorily on past furloughs and determine their eligibility to continue. Flower said the department is not interested in revoking privileges of inmates who have done nothing wrong.

Inmates in the custody of the correction department range from a security classification of Level V for the most violent offenders to Level I for those on supervised home release or in halfway houses.

Meachum said any inmate convicted of assaulting a correction officer automatically will be classified as a Level IV security risk, which will result in closer surveillance and reduced privileges behind bars.

The new security classification and furlough standards are coming as state law is restricting the correction department's use of supervised home release as a release valve for prison crowding.

Only two years ago, convicts were released after serving as little as 5 percent of their sentences. But a law designed to

eliminate supervised home release by July now requires convicts whose offenses were committed after Oct. 1 of this year to serve at least 40 percent of their sentences before being eligible for the program.

Meachum said it is the recent completion of two prisons with cells, as opposed to dormitory housing, that made it possible to tighten up furlough and security classifications at the same time the supervised home-release option is being lost.

The Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown, scheduled to open in November, has 400 cells and is expected to house 700 inmates by housing two each in 300 of those cells.

The Walker Reception Center in Suffield, where new inmates will stay an average of two weeks or less, has 300 cells. It is expected to open later this month.

Dormitory housing, used extensively by the correction department during the past decade to deal with prison crowding, has been blamed by Meachum and other correction experts for the growth of gangs and increased violence behind bars